Love Will Make Us Worthy
by MsLane19
Summary: The rescue team comes back with Henry, and Red decides it's time to leave Storybrooke. She ends up in Portland, Oregon.


_**A/N: I do not own Once Upon a Time nor do I own Grimm. I wish I did though because Red would have way more screen time and Nick would be...never mind. Title is from the song Love They Say by Tegan and Sara**_

Snow and Charming return with Emma and the rest of Henry's rescue party, a solemn Henry and a very much alive Neal Cassidy in tow, and the town rejoices for a moment before going back to arguing whether they should stay here in this new world or return back to the desolated forest they once called home.

Red looks around at the chaos and decides she's done. Ruby has been trying to get out of this town for 28 years, and maybe, just maybe, Red was ready to do just that.

* * *

She doesn't tell Granny what she's thinking, she doesn't want to tell her until she knows she's able to leave, but Granny has always been able to see through her.

"I don't blame you for wanting to get out of here, girl. I don't want to be the one to hold you back either. Personally, there's too much going on in this damn town right now, I'd feel safer knowing you're somewhere else."

"You can come with me." Red says, almost pleadingly. "You'd be safer too."

Granny shakes her head, "I've got my crossbow and my gun, don't need much else. Besides, ya ask me, seems as though they've all forgotten this old woman exists. They'll leave me well enough alone. Just promise me you'll call. I'll let you know once we're ready to head home."

Red doesn't tell her that she's thinking she may not want to go "home", and Granny doesn't tell her that she knows.

* * *

She pushes open the door of Gold's pawn shop and lets the smell of dust and books and memories wash over her.

Gold raises an eyebrow at her as she marches up to the counter, "And what, pray tell, can I do for ye today?"

She leans across the counter, palms pressed flat on the glass. "I saved Belle's life twice while you were gone, and let's not forget the time I helped you find her before that." She lets the wolf shine through her eyes, "You owe me."

Gold frowns in irritation, "Well don't keep me in suspense, Dearie. What do you want in return for your services?"

She tells him.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't more than a little smug at how floored he looked.

* * *

He has it ready for her in two weeks.

Gold passes the bottle to her over the counter as Belle looks on with a worried expression.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Red?" Belle looks at her with fear and more than a little bit of hurt in her eyes. "We need you here, Granny needs you." (The "_I need you" _goes unsaid, but they both hear anyway. Red wonders if Gold hears it too.)

"Granny understands," Red says, refusing to meet Belle's hurt gaze. "I just…I need to get out of here. This town is suffocating me, the wolf needs to get out."

Gold smirks at her, "Oh, to be young and wild and free… I thought you were past your running stage, Red?"

Red doesn't answer him, she doesn't need to explain herself to anyone but Granny, least of all him.

"I'll call you." She says, meeting Belle's eyes for the first time since she came in. "Take care of yourself, Belle." _Be safe._

* * *

She leaves a letter for Snow. She doesn't think she could stand to see the hurt, betrayal, _judgment_ she knows she'll find in her best friend's eyes. Snow is a wonderful person, but Red knows her well enough to know that she would never understand this.

She tells Victor in person though, her fellow monster. He hugs her tight and says he understands, but feels the reluctance in his arms as he slowly lets go. She can't tell if it's because he wants her to stay or if he wants her to take him with her.

Red knows he won't come even if she does ask. He's hoping to find a way back to his brother. Besides, the town needs a doctor more than anything now that Regina and the Charmings are fighting again.

She throws a suitcase into the backseat of her car, places the scarf that used to be her cloak around her neck, hugs Granny goodbye and leaves Storybrooke without looking back.

No regrets.

* * *

Red calls the diner at a café in St. Louis, Missouri; she stays on the line just long enough to say she's fine, the Gateway Arch is amazing, and "I love you."

She doesn't call Belle until she hits Wyoming. She listens to the voice mail all the way up until the beep, then hangs up.

She doesn't call her again.

Red keeps in steady contact with Victor though, sending pictures of every wonderful sight she sees. She knows he'll show them to Granny for her. In return, he sends her a running commentary on the deeds of the townsfolk, marked by his own sarcastic comments. He promises he'll keep Granny safe, no matter what chaos the others bring about.

* * *

Red rolls into Portland, Oregon on a Thursday, on the heels of a thunder storm. The wind and rain and cloudy grey skies don't look like a normal person's idea of home, but there's something about the bohemian-hipster vibe the city puts off that draws her in, and she finds herself staying for a week. After a week, exactly one day of which was blessed with sunshine, she finds herself job hunting.

She gets a job as a bartender at a local bar, and her boss, a portly man with an impressive mustache, helps set her up in an apartment a block away (his friend's the landlord.) She feels rather proud of herself, making it in this world she only has fake memories of all on her own. She sends a picture of herself by the waterfront to Victor and Granny. Victor sends her a message back: _you look great, miss you lots, stay safe._

She finds that, separated from the magic of Storybrooke, the moon doesn't control her anymore. She can turn at will, and she can partially shift, not needing to go full wolf every time. She lets the wolf out every once in a while, goes for a run through the midnight air just to feel the wind through her fur. She hasn't felt this normal since before she found out she was a wolf.

* * *

The bar is, apparently a police hangout, due to the precinct being half a block away. She starts to recognize faces, learn names. She becomes a favorite with the cops, specifically a guy named Sergeant Wu and a Detective Griffin ("_Hank, sweetheart, call me Hank." To which she'd replied "Only if you cut the sweetheart crap and call me Ruby.")_ She listens to their stories with interest and finds herself enjoying being a normal citizen in awe of the law enforcement's adventures. Less of a hassle, and she doesn't have to try to get blood out of her clothes anymore.

She runs into Detective Nick Burkhardt on a Monday, or rather, he runs into her. She's talking to one of her regulars, a tray of beers in one hand, the other on her hip, when she turns suddenly and a large, muscular body runs into hers and then she's soaked.

"I am so sorry, are you alright?"

Red looks up, ready to provide a sharp rebuke, but her eyes meet startlingly blue ones filled with concern and whatever retort she'd had ready dies on her tongue.

"Um…yeah, I'm fine. No harm done."

Hank appears suddenly at the man's shoulder, "Jesus Nick, you're causing all kinds of trouble today. Here, Ruby, let me help you up."

The mess is cleaned up, and Red's shirt is changed and Nick Burkhardt sits down at her bar with an apologetic smile. He apologizes three more times before he finally accepts her forgiveness and asks about where she was from and how she was liking her new home.

There's something about him, something about his scent that has the wolf whining inside her head, but she pushes it away and smiles at him as he insists that she has to try this Thai restaurant in the center of town.

"Maybe you can take me there sometime." She says, and he blushes before whispering, "I'd like to…if you don't mind."

* * *

He takes her there on a Saturday, a week later, and they have a blast. The next Saturday, he takes her hiking, and the next they go bowling. Hank makes a comment about how this is the happiest he's seen his friend in months, he's been in some kind of slump since Juliette left, and Red asks who's Juliette?

Juliette is the ex, the one who left because she couldn't handle "My baggage," Nick says, "I don't really blame her, I wouldn't want to handle it either."

She gives him a knowing look and then tells him about Peter, Peter who'd been killed while out hunting. An animal attack. She doesn't tell him that she was the animal (and he doesn't tell her that the first thought that comes to mind is _Wessen_) and she doesn't tell him about Belle.

Not that there's anything to say about Belle.

* * *

She's been in Portland a whole year and a half (spending time with Nick for three months) when she finds the man dead in the alley behind the bar. He looks like he's been attacked by a wolf, and for one brief moment she's terrified that she might have lost control.

Nick and Hank are on the case, and she tries not to get too frustrated, but Hank is asking question after question while Nick stands there watching her, and for a moment her control slips and she feels the wolf come to the surface.

It's just a few seconds, maybe less, but when she brings it back under control, she sees the look on Nick's face and she knows he knows.

* * *

He shows up on her doorstep with a gangly, bearded, man in a sweater and he smells like _wolf _and the wolf inside her howls in recognition.

There's yelling and screaming and words like _lied _and _why _and _trust_, but when it's done she's sitting on the couch with her head in her hands as she listens to the man, Monroe, tell her about "their kind" or "Wessen", as this world calls them, and "Grimm" which is what Nick is, and she's quiet for a long moment after its done before she takes a deep breath and begins her story.

"Once upon a time, 28 years ago to be exact, there was an enchanted forest where all of the fairytale characters you've read about lived. The Evil Queen, Snow White's step-mother, cast a curse and they were all sent to another world, a world where there are no happy endings. She sent them to this world, and for 28 years, they lived in a small town in Maine, until Snow White's daughter found them, and broke the curse."

She tells the story of the curse, of Emma, of Snow and Charming, of Regina and Gold…and finally, finally she tells them her story.

She starts with Peter, and ends with her arrival in Portland and it's three AM and they're both staring at her in stunned silence. She gets up and walks into the kitchen and listens to them argue about whether or not she's telling the truth. She gives them five minutes before she asks them to leave.

"It's three in the morning and I am ready for bed. You know where to find me."

* * *

Nick finds her a week later in the park. It's her day off and she's enjoying some R&R when she turns a corner and there he is, leaning against a tree.

"I'm sorry."

She looks at him for a long moment before nodding, "I know."

* * *

She gets a call from Granny, the beans are ready, they're ready to go home, Granny is ready to go home. She leaves a letter for Nick, she's still not sure if she's actually going to go home, back to the forest, but she knows she needs to be there, and she needs him to know that she may not be coming back.

Driving past the _Welcome to Storybrooke _sign almost sends her into a panic attack, her wolf does not want to be back here. She pulls up in front of the diner and walks in to find a crowd of people waiting for her. Granny and Victor pull her into a hug and she allows herself to relax in their embrace.

Snow and Charming greet her as though she'd never left, and Henry enthusiastically tells her all about the things she'd missed since she'd left while Emma and Neal look on. It almost feels like home. Almost.

She fights with Granny that night, because she doesn't want to go back. She'd thought about it the whole drive home and Red feels like she's made the right decision. At least, she does until Granny asks "What is it that's keeping you here?" and she sees Nick's face in her mind, but she can't say his name because she doesn't know that Nick even wants her now that he knows the truth.

So she says "Nothing" and walks out.

* * *

They're all standing at the docks, waiting for the moment when they'll open the portal and be on their way home. Those who are leaving are saying goodbye to those who are staying behind. Red stands next to Granny and hefts her bag higher on her shoulder. Snow had told them all that the ogres were back, and Red mentally prepares herself for what that means for them.

Tiny and Grumpy stand together at the end of the dock, where they'd agreed the portal would be opened when a car pulls up and a man jumps out yelling "WAIT!"

Red turns around in surprise, she feels faint as she whispers "Nick…"

He runs up to her and stands there gasping as he says the two words she'd hoped he'd say two weeks ago, "Don't go."

She stares at him, at the hand he reaches out to her and for a moment she thinks that she would be within her rights to turn and walk away, to go back to the forest. But the moment passes and she finds herself staring into blue eyes that beg her to leave everyone she's ever cared about forever and come with him. She reaches out her hand and takes his and then he's kissing her and she feels free.


End file.
